Lighting ring



May 1 1928.

A. HELDRICH LIGHTING RING Filed Dec.

WITNESS Patented May 1, 1928.

UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

- ANDREW HELDRICH, OF NEW BRUNSWICK, NEW JERSEY, ASSIGNOR TO AMERICAN INCUBATOR MANUFACTURING (10., INC., A CORPORATION OF NEW JERSEY.

LIGHTING RING.

Application filed December 24, 1925. Serial No. 77,424.

My invention relates to lighting rings or flame rings employed in burners intended for burning liquid hydrocarbons with a blue flame, burners of this character being in 5 common use and generally designed to burn' kerosene.

Such burners usually comprise a cupshaped element mounted on the tube by which the liquid fuel is conveyed to the burner and a plurality of concentric perforated tubes disposed above the cup-shaped element and surrounded by an outer casing or chimney. Within the cup-shaped element is disposed a lighting or flame ring which is ordinarily formed of wire and some heatresistant fibrous material such as asbestos woven together, the ring operating as a wick to elevate the oil and support a flame following the lighting of the burner until the metallic parts of the burner become sufficiently hot to vaporize the oil. 7 When this condition is attained the function of the lighting ring has been accomplished and it no longer serves any useful purpose in the operation of the burner but merely rests in the cup-shaped element in the path of the ascending vaporized oil until, after the burner has beenextinguished, it is desired to relight the same, when the ring is again lighted to reheat the burner.

In the operation of burners of this general character it has been found that when the ordinary type of lighting ring is utilized it is necessary to remove and thoroughly clean the ring at short intervals for, owing to its position in the path of the ascending oil vapor the ring tends to collect incombustible impurities from the oil, particles of carbon and the like so that in a relatively short time 40 the ring becomes encrusted and caked and if not 'removed and thoroughly cleansed tends to cause the burner to burn with a progressively decreasing flame and to finally go out. Additionally, under practical conditions the life of the ordinary lighting ring is quite short for, even though it be cleaned at frequent intervals, it finally becomes so impregnated with impurities and the like that it will not operate satisfactory to raise the oil and support the flame when the burner is initially lighted so that it becomes necessary to replace the ring with a new one at relatively frequent intervals, necessitating a more or less continuous expense to keep the burner in proper condition.

cleaned much less frequently than any type Thus a. principal object of my invention is to" provide a novel lighting or flame ring adapted for employment in a blue flame oil burner of the general character aforesaid and so constructed as to minimize the accumulation in and about the ring of impurities carbon and other materials inimical to the satisfactory operation of the burner and to provide a ring which requires to be of ring hitherto known to maintain a satisfactorily operative condition and which does. not require renewal save at extremely long intervals.

My invention further contemplates the provision of a novel material which may be manufactured in the form of a tape or strip and cut up into suitable lengths to form lighting rings having the foregoing characteristics, said material being capable of production at substantially the same cost as the material of which the ordinary lighting rings are made.

My invention further includes other objects and novel features and characteristics hereinafter more specifically referred to or which may be apparent from the accompanying drawing forming a part hereof.

In said drawing, Fig. 1 is a perspective view of a lighting or flame ring constructed in accordance with my invention; Fig. 2 is a View of a fragment of the fabric of which the ring is made before being bent up to form the ring, Fig. 3 is an enlarged fragmentary view illustrating the structure thereof and Fig; 4 is a fragmentary enlarged view of a modified form of one of the strands. Fig. 5 is a fragmentaryv view, partially in central section, of a burner of well known form with one of my improved lighting rings disposed in operative position therein. The same characters are used to designate similar parts in the several figures.

In accordance with a preferred man-- ner of performing my invention, the material of which the lighting ring is formed is woven as a tape or strip of suitable wid\ the warp or longitudinal threads 2 of which may be of non-fibrous material such .as fine brass or other metallic wire, these threads being either single, or, preferably, composed of a plurality of twisted strands as shown in Fig. 3. The-transverse or weft threads of the strip may, at spaced intervals, be formed of non-fibrous material such as wire,

similar or substantially similar to the warp threads, such weft threads being indicated at 3, 3, Fig. 3, while in the intervals between these groups or zones of non-fibrous weft threads, the weft threads of the fabric,

as it may be conveniently termed, are entirely of fibrpus heat-resistant material such as asbestos as at 4, 4, Fig. 3, or of coma parallel to the warp threads. at one edge of the fabric for a suitable distance as at 3", and then again carried back and forth and over and under the warp threads as at 3'. In a similar way back and forth and over and under the warp threads in the space or zone between adjacent zones having the non-fibrous weft threads until such space or zone is substantially filled and is then carried along the edge of the fabric as at 4 to the next zone or space where it is to form the weft thread. When constructed in this manner by means of suitable machinery, as will be readily understood by those familiar with the art, the finished fabric therefore presents alternate zones X and Y extending transversely 'across the fabric and respectively formed with both warp and weft threads of non-fibrous material such as bare wire or with warp threads of non-fibrous material and weft threads of asbestos or similar fibrous material, the width of the latter or fibrous zone, as it may be termed, being preferably somewhat greater than that of the other of non-fibrous zone.

While I have hitherto described with some particularity a preferred manner ,of weaving the material of which my improved lighting rings are formed, it is to be distinctly understood that other methods of constructing the tape-like fabric may be employed if desired so long as the resultant product presents alternate transversely extending zones of fibrous and non-fibrous material, the former, vof course, having much greater capillary capacity than the latter. The tape-like fabric, having'been formed in any desired manner, may be cut off in a suitable length and bent to circular or other requisite form to provide a lighting ring for any particular burner. a

While .the specific construction of the burner forms no part of the present invention and the lighting ring may therefore be utilized with any desired form of burner, I have illustrated in Fig 5 a typical burner of well known construction in order to better explain the operation of the ring. This burner, as shown, comprises a'cup 15 emthe fibrous thread is carried bodying a fuel channel or reservoir 16 which communicates through a port 17 with the fuel supply pipe 18 through which the liquid fuel is led to the burner from any suitable source such as a tank, not shown.

The cup is mounted upon the tube and sup-, ports at its upper end the usual outer GhlIIlney 19 which surrounds the perforated metal cylinders or tubes 20 and 21, the chlmney, together with the tubes, being ieadily removable from the cup. The lighting ring R is dis osed within the channel in the cup with its lower edge resting on the bottom thereof and its upper edge terminating about on alignment with the u per edge of the channel. the ring prefera ly beingof such thickness as to slightly clear the sides of the channel. Suitable means, not shown, are provided for varying or regulating the hei ht or depth of oil in the channel 16 with conse uent regulation ofthe height of the flame, t e greater the depth of 01]. in the channel the greater being the height of the flame andvice versa.

When it is desired to light the burner the chimney is removed and the depth of 011 in the channel preferably increased substan-. tially to the permitted maximum. Thehghting ring now operates as a wick to raise the oil to the upper edge of thering, at which point it is-lighted with a match and the chimney replaced. The flame thus supported at the upper edge of the ring in a short time heats adjacent parts of the burner I sufliciently to vaporize the oil in the channel 16; the oil vapor thus generated rises and, mixing with air and entering the tubes within the chimney, burns with an intense blue flame. Ordinarily after the ring has been lighted, and before or immediately after the oil begins to vaporize, the burner or oil supplying mechanlsm is so adjusted that the level of the oil in the channel will be lowered considerably from the point at which it was when the ring was lighted, thus exposing a greater extent of the wick above the level of the oil and in the path of the ascending vapor. Frequently, also after the burner has been operatin for a considerable time the cup 15 and ad acent portion of the supply pipe gets so hot that the oil vaporizes in the latter before entering the cup at all so that the entire surface of the wick is thus exposed to the passage of the vapor.

Now under these conditions and while the burner is operating a ring of ordinary construction collects a great amount of impurities and other incombustible materials which are carried upwardly adjacent the ring by the oil vapor so that the ring in a short time becomes encrusted to such an extent as to more or less fill up the channel 16 and seri ously impede the passage of the vapor, thus flame of the burner remains unaffected and constant over long periods. As illustrative of the difference to which I have just re ferred, it may be stated that experiments have shown that a standard commercial burner equipped with an ordinary lighting ring and used for heating an incubator will burn about 72 hours before being automatically extinguished .by the encrustation and clogging of the ring, while a similar ,burner under like conditions and with the same quality of fuel but equipped with my im proved ring burned over 1600 hours before it was extinguished. Additionally, when using the ordinary ring the flame of the burner gradually decreased from its initial heightto the point at which it Went out automatically, whereas in the other case, using my improved ring, the flame remained constant until very near to the end of the 1600 hour period.

It is my belief that the improved results obtained with a lighting ring constructed in accordance with my invention are due to the fact that the oil vapor as it rises past the ring tends to seek the path of least resistance through the zones composed of bare wire rather than through the zones embodying the fibrous material with the result that the minute particles of incombustible material, instead of being entrained and caught in the fibres of the ring as in the case when the ordinary ring is employed, are carried up by the ascending vapors and pass off through the chimney with the gaseous products of combustion. Consequently both the fibrous and non-fibrous zones of my improved ring remain relatively clean and unclogged for a very long period of time so that, in fact, the ring presents substantially the same appearance after hundreds of hours of burning as it does after the burner has been in operation for a few hours only. It will thus be apparent that my improved ring not only materially enhances the length of time which the burner may be operated without cleaning or renewing the ring, but also throughout its life remains in suitable condition to raise the oil by capillary action through fibrous zones, and to a lesser degree through its nonfibrous zones, when the burner is to be lighted.

While I have herein described and illustrated with considerable particularity one form of my invention which has given very satisfactory results in practical operation, I

do, not thereby desire or intend to confine myself solely thereto nor to any precise number or relative proportions of the zones of fibrous and non-fibrous material, as the same may be varied as desired and other modifications made to adapt the invention to various types of burners or for use with various fuels or for other pur oses, without departing from the spirit an scope of the invention as defined in the appended claims.

Having thus described my invention, I claim and desire to protect by Letters Patent of the United States:

1. A lighting ring having a plurality of alternate zones of fibrous and non-fibrous material.

2. A lighting ring having alternate transversely extending zones respectively com prising fibrous and non-fibrous material.

3. A lighting ring formed from a strip of fabricated material of which the warp threads are of non-fibrous material and the weft threads comprise alternate groups of fibrous and of non-fibrous material.

4. A lighting ring formed from astrip of fabricated material having a plurality of spaced zones formed of wires disposed substantially at right angles to each other and a pluralit of zones disposed between said first mentioned zones and comprising wires extending in one direction and threads of fibrous material extending substantially at right angles thereto. r

5. A lighting rin formedfrom a strip of fabricated materia, the warp threads of said strip being of metal, the weft threads at spaced intervals of metal and the weft threads between said intervals of fibrous material.

6. A lighting ring formed from a strip of woven fabric, the war threads of said strip being of bare wire, t 1e weft threads at spaced intervals of similar wire, and the weft threads between said spaced intervals of asbestos.

7. A tape like woven material having longitudinal threads of non-fibrous material and the transverse threads at spaced intervals of similar material and the spaces between said intervals filled with fibrous mate- ANDREW HELDRICH. 

